Chapter 2: Signals and Spectra

Associate Prof. Dr. Ho Van Khuong

Tele. Dept. , HCMUT
Email: khuong.hovan@yahoo.ca
Tel.: 0122 99 00 719
 In the following we consider the representation of signals in the time
domain and frequency domain, and the relationship between these
representations.

In the frequency domain we view the signal as consisting of sinusoidal

components at various frequencies.

The mathematical definition of the frequency domain representation,

that is the spectrum, is determined by the Fourier transform. The
spectrum for periodic signals is obtained using the Fourier series.

• Sinusoidal signals
Sinusoidal signals are modelled as

where A is the amplitude, ω0 is the angular frequency (f0 is the

frequency) and φ is the phase.

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 This is a periodic signal whose period is T0 = 2π / ω0 = 1 / f0

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 Spectra of sinusoidal signal
The line spectrum associates a certain frequency to a particular
amplitude and phase.
The one-sided line spectrum of a sinusoidal signal is:

The amplitude and phase spectrum have an impulse at f0. The essential
parameters of the signal can be seen from the spectrum: frequency,
amplitude, and phase.

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 Linear combination of sinusoidal signals

This can be rewritten in the form:

which can be utilized to plot the one-sided line spectrum as above.

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 The complex representation of sinusoidal signal
Usually, the signals are real-valued. However, the concept of
complex signals is a useful tool in telecommunication. Most of
the cases can be handled by using real signals, however, the
complex signals are widely used in spectral analysis.

The following Euler's equations are often needed:

On the other hand, sine and cosine are given by

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 Two-sided spectrum
One-sided spectrum could be used for real signals. In the
following, two-sided spectrum is used because it allows to
handle also complex signals.

In the case of real signals, the two-sided spectrum is obtained by

using the substitution:

The two-sided spectrum

for the previous example
is shown as:

Here, basis functions are

complex exponential.

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 The phasor diagram for the two-sided spectrum of sinusoidal
consists of two vectors whose phase and direction of rotation are
reversed. The resultant vector is a real signal.

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 Periodic Signals
The signal v(t) is periodic if

where m is any integer. In this case, the signal can be constructed by

combining signal segments of length T0:

The length of the periodic signals is infinite, therefore, the signals in the
practical system can not be strictly periodical. However, many finite-
length signals in the practical systems correspond very accurately to the
pure periodic signals.

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 Phasor representation
A complex exponential function can be given as phasor which
rotates around origin:
Real signal corresponds to the real part of the phasor:

Phasor representation is used to illustrate sinusoidal signals and

communication signals consisting of sinusoidals.

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 Power and average of the periodic signals
– The average of a signal is:

– The average power of the periodic signal is:

For periodic signals, it is usually assumed that the power is finite, 0< P < ∞.

Example:

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 Fourier-series
A periodic signal can be written by using the exponential Fourier
series

where

The complex coefficients cn can be expressed using the polar form:

The exponential Fourier series determines the two-sided spectrum

for a periodic signal. It consists of the harmonics (i.e., integer
multiples) of the frequency f0. |cn| is the value of the amplitude
spectrum at nf0 and argcn is the corresponding value of the phase
spectrum
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 The properties of the line spectrum
– All frequencies are integer multiples (or harmonics) of the
fundamental frequency f0
– The DC component c0 equals the average value of the signal:

– If v(t) is real, then

which means that the amplitude spectrum has even

symmetry and the phase spectrum has odd symmetry.

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 Sinc-function (sinus cardinalis - cardinal sine)
The sinc-function is often needed in the spectral analysis:

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 Example: Rectangular pulse train

The coefficients of the Fourier series can be calculated as follows:

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 Example: Rectangular pulse train (cont.)
Below figures are amplitude and phase spectra in the case where τ / T0
= 1/4. The function sinc fτ can be recognized from the envelope of the
amplitude spectrum. The amplitude of the DC component is c0= Aτ /
T0.

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 Gibbs phenomenon
If the periodic signal has a stepwise discontinuity (like in
rectangular pulse train), the Fourier series does not converge at
the points of discontinuity. The partial sum converges to the mid-
point of the discontinuity. On each side of discontinuity,

has oscillatory overshoot of about 18%

independent of N (the number of terms).
As N is increased, the oscillations collapse
into nonvanishing spikes.

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 Gibbs phenomenon has implications for the shapes of the filters
used with real signals. An ideal filter that is shaped like a
rectangular pulse will result in discontinuities in the spectrum that
will lead to distortions in the time signal. Real applications use
window shapes such as Hamming or Hanning windows. Also, the
signals in the practical systems are always bandlimited and,
thus, do not contain discontinuities. Therefore, Gibbs
phenomenon is not usually a problem in spectral analysis.

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 Parseval's theorem
Parseval's theorem relates the average power P of a periodic
signal to its Fourier coefficients as follows:

This means that the average power is the sum of the powers of
the spectral components.

Therefore, Parseval’s theorem implies superposition of average

powers.

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 Nonperiodic signals

Fourier series decomposition is only applicable to periodic functions.

Non-periodic functions can be analysed via the concept of Fourier

transform.

Non-periodic functions have finite energy.

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 Fourier transform and continuous spectra
Consider signals whose energy:

is finite. This also means that the signal is concentrated to relatively

short time period (time-limited).

The Fourier transform for this kind of energy signal is defined as

V(f) is the spectrum of signal v(t).

Nonperiodic signals have continuous spectra => Fourier transform is used

(instead of Fourier series) .
Periodic signals have line spectra (discontinous spectra); they can be
developed in Fourier series.

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 The spectrum has the following properties:
– V(f) is a complex function. V(f) is the amplitude spectrum and
argV(f) is the phase spectrum.
– The value of V at f = 0 equals the net area of v(t):

– If v(t) is real => V( -f ) = V*( f ) (hermitian symmetry), i.e,

The time function v(t) is obtained from V(f) by using the inverse Fourier
transform:

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 Example: Rectangular pulse

The notation Π(t / τ) is used for rectangular pulse. It is defined as

Consider the signal v(t) = A Π(t / τ). Its Fourier transform is

It can be seen that the spectrum of the rectangular pulse corresponds to

the envelope of the spectrum of the rectangular pulse train (see the
previous example). It can be also noted that most of the spectral content
is located in the frequency band of |f | < 1/τ . This means that the
spectrum of a narrow pulse is wide.

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 Rayleigh's energy theorem
Rayleigh's energy theorem is similar to Parseval's theorem (* is the
complex conjugate)

Thus, the energy of the signal can be calculated by integrating the

square of the amplitude spectra.

Example:
The total energy of the rectangular pulse AΠ(t / τ) is E = A2τ.
The energy in the frequency band |f | < 1/τ is

This is about 90% of the total energy.

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 Left plot: rectangular pulse.
Middle plot: Fourier transform of the rectangular pulse (sinc
waveform).
Right plot: squared Fourier transform (signal spectrum) and the energy
distribution per frequency bands.

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 Convolution
The convolution between two signal v(t) and w(t) is denoted by v∗w(t)
and it is determined by

Convolution has the following properties: Commutativity, associativity

and distributivity

Convolution is an essential concept when analyzing linear continuous-

time systems.

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 • Convolution and Fourier transform
Convolution in time domain is equivalent to the multiplication in
frequency domain

• Calculation of convolution
Example:

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 Result:

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 Impulses
Up to now: a clear distinction between line spectra (that represent
periodic signals) and continuous spectra (that represent non-
periodic signals).

Sometimes, a signal has both periodic and non-periodic terms →

we introduce the concept of impulses in frequency domain for
the representation of discrete frequency components. Useful tool:
Dirac delta function (unit impulse).

The unit impulse or the Dirac delta function δ(t) is defined as:

Here v(t) is any ordinary function that is continuous at t = 0. If v(t) =

1:

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 Graphical representation of the impulse: Aδ(t−td)

Although an impulse does not exist physically,

there are many conventional functions that have
all the properties of the impulse as some parameter
goes to zero. For example, a rectangular pulse
having the amplitude of 1/ε and width of ε
approaches an impulse waveform when ε
approaches zero.

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 The impulse has the properties:

• Impulse in the frequency domain

Frequency-domain impulse corresponds to the spectra of constant
and sinusoidal signals.

The following transform pairs can be given:

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 The spectra of the sinusoidal signals contains two impulses:

If the Fourier series of the periodic signal is:

Then its Fourier transform is:

The above relationship connects the line spectrum of the

periodic signals to the spectrum determined by the Fourier
transform.

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 • Impulses in the time domain
The following transform pairs can be derived:

The spectrum of the time-domain impulse contains all

frequencies in equal proportion. This is physically impossible.
However, there is some phenomenon where this model is valid up
to very high frequencies.

• Step and sign-functions

– Step function is defined by

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 – Sign-function is defined by

The time-Fourier transform pairs for these functions

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